hello, everyone. i'm ashleigh banfield. it's thursday, october 10th. welcome to "legal view." if congress can't solve a problem or if congress can ignore a problem, they can usually find a way to postpone a problem, and so what emerges is a temporary fix, bigger of two really awful debacles facing the government right now, borrow more money or face some impossible choices. i don't know how you could possibly choose between social security and veterans benefits, between medicare and food assistance. these are obligations we've made. you know, we wouldn't have the

money to necessarily pay our troops in full. we wouldn't have the money to pay our veterans the benefits in ful full. >> that is treasury secretary jack lew, arguably a pretty important guy right now. he is warning the senate finance committee that default is default. there is no other name for it. and that government computers aren't set up magically to pick and choose between which bills we should pay, which ones we shouldn't and how we should prioritize if that's the way we have to go in the event of a default. with all that in mind, house republicans are now set to come up with an offer of four to six weeks and it is a four to six-week reprieve in finding the solution to this debt ceiling problem. the debt reduction talks will be going on during that four to six weeks. it's a little bit complicated. here is the bigger problem -- or maybe the smaller problem, depending how you look at it. the partial government shutdown we're suffering through right now, that ain't going to change.

that's going to continue, pending some other pixie dust solution. we're expecting to hear any minute now from the speaker of the house as well as other republicans as well. in the meantime i've been trying to workup getting dana bash, who has been digging up a lot of great background information today. she's been busy on capitol hill. let me read for you one thing dana bash was able to find. this is our dana. this was something that was an advisory that went out to the house gop. at this morning's conference, the leaders will be rolling out a plan to provide for a temporary increase in the debt limit as we pursue other avenues for negotiation. that is only the first part of it. dana bash joins me now live to talk about the rest of it. way to go. excellent scoop. so, it's true. they're going to make this overtur. how many republicans are on board with this, do you know, dana? >> well, ashleigh, let me set the scene. i'm on the phone. we're in the basement of the capitol waiting for the speaker and the rest of the leadership to come out of this meeting. and so the headline is that it

appears that the legislation that they presented to the house republican caucus is for a six-week increase in the debt ceiling. so, six-week increase in the debt ceiling and, you're right, it would not provide for the government to reopen, but republican leader source just told me coming out of this meeting that their idea would be at the heart of this temporary debt ceiling increase to have negotiations right away on debt and deficit issues. but the first part of their discussion would be how to reopen the government. so, that is the idea that republicans have with this legislation. i'm also told that it could be on the house floor as soon as tomorrow. you started to read the advisory i sent out. they're likely to formalize the legislation and send it to the process to get to the house floor as soon as today. now, we are waiting for the house speaker to come out. you asked a very good question,

which is how this is being received among house republicans. it's definitely a mixed bag. some conservatives are saying, you know, we're not loving this idea, because they have always hoped to use the debt ceiling as leverage. to make sure -- not just hope you're going to get conversations but make sure you're going to get cuts in spending and reforms of entitlement programs, things like that. so, it is likely going to be something that is going to pass, as we have been reporting now for a couple of days with bipartisan support, democratic support. we'll see what happens as they come out and talk to us. maybe even more importantly, after republican leaders meet with the president later this afternoon. >> we'll talk about that in a moment. before i do, i want to be really, really clear that this six-week deal is no strings attached. right? >> roadway. >> otherwiyeah. >> otherwise from the tenor i

would assume democrats have nothing to do with it. have you heard anything in terms of we can actually talk? >> yeah. we reported last night, according to a couple of democratic lawmakers who were in a meeting with the president that he said this is something they'll have to go for, something along the lines of this is what we need to help the speaker climb out of the tree he has himself in, this is what we're going to have to do. and democratic leader nancy pelosi publicly after the meeting at the white house suggested that this was something that democrats could go for. so, that's -- my understanding is that that's why republicans are moving forward with this legislation because they feel comfortable that this is a solution based on the reporting, some kind of back channel through the white house and for democrats, something that they

can pass. >> you just mentioned it, dana, this big meeting that's coming up today with the house leadership, marching down to the invitation that they accepted to speak with the president. gop leaders as we wait for that live conference to begin in just a moment. brianna keilar is standing by. brianna, i was astounded when i heard that to come on down for a nice conversation. we'll all have a nice chat today. turned out 233 of them what are we expecting out of that meeting? >> we don't know. significantly more interesting if the entire republican congress had come to the white house, ashleigh. you would have had president obama making his case to all of them, including the tea-party backed republicans that he has blamed for all of this mess.

but i think we'll probably expect that he will tell them -- i suspect more of what we heard him say, that he's willing to discuss, for instance, obama care. but making prochl e ining impro. it's hard to figure out where republicans would want to make improvements. the only improvement, quote, unquote, they've proposed is to get rid of obama care. president obama has made clear he is not on board for that. certainly the white house says they want to discuss deficit spending. because we've gone back and forth on this, the white house would like to see more revenue, raising taxes. republicans don't want that. they want to talk about spending cuts. both sides feel like they've caved on this. they may talk about this in general terms. there's going to be a lot -- very far apart when it comes to finding a solution in perhaps the next six weeks that this short-term thing could buy for them.

>> each careening moment to the next and it's become very boring to have to rereport that every day. what's not boring, brianna keilar, is the incredible rhetoric fwg back and forth between the two parties. i want to gev you two examples. i will credit this quote directly to president obama, he said if that's what boehner needs to climb out of the tree he's stuck in, then that's something we should look at. again, that is president obama, as quoted by a democratic lawmaker. didn't take long for the number two senate democrat dick durbin to come back swinging with what does short term buy us? that buys us thanksgiving in washington. doesn't it also buy us not blowing through the debt ceiling, brianna? at the very least, that's the very least they could do. markets have responded already. >> the way the white house sees it, ashleigh, do they want a short term deal?

not really. they like a long-term deal, what the senate is proposing, increase the debt ceiling beyond the election next year. they're resigned to the fact that they're not going to get that. knowing that, a short-term deal is preferable, obviously, to a default. but, you know, it's true. it puts us right into the holidays. the white house has been talking a lot to the business community, especially lately. and they're hearing all of this concern about where does that put us, that's when people are buying holiday presents, right? you're looking at uncertainty around that and certainly retailers are worried it's going to impact what people are consuming and that it's going to hurt the economy. and that's also a very real concern here they seem to be resigned to the fact that this may be the best they can get, ashleigh. >> stand by, if you will, for a moment, brianna. we're still waiting. we have our live cameras up on capitol hill at this time. there's been a closed-door meeting since 10:00 with the

house gop conference and house leadership. we're expecting john boehner and eric cantor. take a look at the podium if you will as well. it seems every time there's a news conference, there's a new hash tag. this one is time4solutions. i think last time was let's have a conversation. democrats and republicans coming out daily, sometimes multi-daily to give their marketing or bumper sticker argument for the day. dana bash, if you can still hear me, the question i have for you about this potential temporary break in the impasse is what exactly do we know about the six weeks? will there be some sort of condition attached to the six weeks? i know the condition wouldn't be attached to the debt ceiling

deal, but the condition to the six weeks, meaning if we don't get this, it's over. we're going to careen right up to where we are today in six week. >> that's exactly right. i'm sorry. i need to give you a little bit of a play by play. i'm watching them duct taping this new hash tag sign on the podium. i don't know if you can see that from your perspective. >> we can. >> it's classic how quickly they change. it was #let'stalk to # -- i can't see behind it time4solution. >> time4solutions today. >> that's the twitter, hash tag world we're all living in. my understanding initially is that republicans were going to demand specific parameters to discussions that would start immediately. and then this proposal they were going to push last night, i was told last night by senior republican source that they

weren't going to give those specific parameters primarily because there's so many different points of view within the republican caucus, never mind between republicans and democrats. it wasn't going to be that productive. the decision was in the leadership to give those specific parameters. it sounds like it's going to be open ended. and the club that they still have -- when i say they, i mean republicans. a, that it's only six weeks and, you know, they have to try to force negotiations and, b, the government is still going to be shut down. so, that's -- they're going to try to get these negotiations up and running very fast. my understanding is that republicans are hoping that that will be the first discussion point in the talks. >> dana, as we watch the duct taping that's just wrapped up and plan.

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we've been waiting for the house republicans to come out for a news conference to what they basically just said in private. we are getting a report from deidre walsh that tim griffin, republican from arkansas, has reported to us that the speaker has presented the house republicans with a plan for a six-week clean bill to raise the debt limit. so, again, clean means no strings attached. that's something that the president wanted if we were going to get through some kind of six-week period, only to end up in the same situation we are in now. apparently that's what the speaker has presented to his membership. dana bash is standing by. she in that room you're looking at now as we are waiting for the leadership to come out, looking at the #time4solutions.

that's great, dana. we're talking about the debt ceiling, avoiding this terrible impasse that we would careen into next week. but there's no mention of the government shutdown. it's not tied into it. we're still in the same boat with that. is that correct? >> yes. as you and i have been talking on the air, and i've been waiting for the speaker and other republican leaders to come out, deidre walsh has been running around, as she normally does, talking to rank and file members. she talked to several many, actually, and they made clear that's part of the reason why this pln is getting mixed review s inside. part of the reason is they're not happy that there's no plan to reopen the government. by the other reason they're not happy is because of what you and i discussed before the break. the republican leaders decided to not mandate specific parameters for discussions as

part of this agreement to raise the debt ceiling even temporarily for six weeks. they just decide that would not be productive. that is not something that is making conservatives happy at all. >> all right, dana -- sorry, go ahead. >> it's entirely possible and even probable when you see this on the floor of the house, maybe tomorrow, that this is going to pass democratic and republican votes, which is something that the speaker has been resisting doing with regard to opening the government. our count shows the votes are there and he resisted doing that. i'm looking around the corner t looks like the entourage may be coming. >> i was about to swing away for an interview with some of the lawmakers standing on the hill but i don't want to interrupt speaker boehner and what the other leaders have to say. in the interim, perhaps it's the most prudent thing to say how

many democrats have been canvassed about what they think of this? many of them have said no debt ceiling limit that doesn't go past mid terms next year. is there serious -- >> a lot of democrats think this is a terrible idea for that reason. kicking the can six weeks, we'll be right back where we were unless there's a magic solution in six weeks. having said that, there is certainly enough democrats who think that, that also don't want to see the country default. so they'll likely hold their nose and vote for it. that's what we're hearing. >> there is one democrat we have standing by. i'll bring him on board to answer a quick question, if i can. he is standing beside a republican as well. and, gentlemen, i'll introduce you. with the caveat that the moment the speaker begins speaking, i may have to interrupt your mikes and get right to that live news conference. adam schiff from california is joined by the republican from south carolina, nick mulvaney.

i just asked what the democratic members feel about this potential six-week deal. it's not what you wanted. i don't think anybody is going to get what they wanted. do you appreciate it? can you be on board with it? how many members, colleagues of yours, do you think would be? >> that's a good question. this is a concern i raised with the president yesterday at our meeting, that a short-term deal may just land us back where we are right now two months from now. that economic cloud that hangs over this country with will we default, won't we default will be with us for another two months. if it's perceived there's concessions during that two months, then the next time the debt ceiling came up, the perception will be created that there will be more concessions to pay our bills. concerns i have and fellow democrats have, push comes to shove and take default or take a short-term deal, it's hard to choose default but this is a very poor course if this is the

ultimate resolution. it may just land us right back where we are. >> congressman schiff, is that a no? >> it's not a no. this is a moving target. i want to see what comes out of it. a lot of moving pieces, including whether the government stays shut down. at all costs i want to avoid a default but i also don't want to see this game continue where a small group can extort the house, shut down, burn it town and threaten our economy if it doesn't get what it wants. >> okay. i want to try to leave out all the -- like extortion, burning down the house. >> that's how we feel about it. >> i know but it doesn't help when you all start. >> congressman muvaney, i'm told you were in with the house financial committee as well. answer the same question for me, if you could, of what i just asked adam schiff, which is are you on board? how many republicans in the

house could be on board with this no strings attached temporary solution? >> the reporting you're getting is not entirely accurate. i'm looking forward to see what the speaker has to say. i ran out of the middle of the meeting to be here. i heard it is not a pure clean old-fashioned debt ceiling increase. it will be very limited. there will be no extraordinary measures that the treasury can use to extend or debt ceiling. the president has said he is willing to sit down with us if we raised the debt ceiling and passed cr to open the government. he will only get half of that and see if he takes us up on our invitations to sit down and chat. we'll be offering, as part of this deal, another invitation to leadership of both the senate democrats and the white house who sit down in formal negotiations over this. it's being reported as a cleaned

debt ceiling. it's not a garden variety debt ceiling increase and simply a way to invite the discussion to continue. >> i don't mean to tax you. i respect the fact that you said you had to leave the meeting to come out and do this live interview. can you be more specific when you say not clean? perhaps some sort of provisions? what kind of provisions, at least, were alluded to, suggested at? >> it's not really conditions. i guess it's a new animal we're dealing with. we either do it by a period of time or an amount of money. that would be a traditional clean debt ceiling. if you do that, it still allows the treasury to use its extraordinary measures to move the deadline forward or backwards. what you're going to see is more of a restricted debt ceiling increase so it is a hard six weeks or hard amount of money. it sounds like it's a subtle difference and it probably is. but i don't think it's fair to say it's a traditional clean debt ceiling increase. i'm just trying to be did -- >> okay. and general reaction from your colleagues in that meeting, was

it luke warm? were people on board? >> honestly, i think the reaction is sort of wait and see. we've not mentioned that a group of republicans have been invited down to the white house this afternoon. we're not sending everybody. we're not sending our upper leadership but a group of committee chairmen and our lower, mid-level leadership to talk to the president, which is a great idea. what comes out of that conversation with this potential offer on the table will tell you a lot where they are. >> congressman mulvaney, i'll get us live to the news conference to get you a quick setup, they just emerge fridayy meeting that was to begin at 10:00 am, close doord meeting with the house gop conference. you'll be seeing the speaker john boehner, off to the left-hand side of your screen, as you can see. you're also likely to be hearing from the majority leader, eric cantor. the majority whip, kevin mccarthy and the conference chair, kathy rogers, who is standing out front.

obviously as they file, i see them peeking in the background is paul ryan as well. >> good morning, everyone. government shutdown and just today the president has invited the house republicans to have a discussion about the way forwar forward. >> we're hopeful that these will be good faith negotiations over the long-term debt drivers or drivers of our debt over our security that we need for this country as well as the pressing need to open up this government agai again. >> that's why we'll offer legislation that will offer a temporary increase in the debt ceiling to allow us to some time to continue this conversation, because it is time for solutions. the democrats' unwillingness to have this conversation has

actually resulted in a delay and an ongoing government shutdown and it's hurting the american people. it's gone on too long. we hope that the president will choose negotiation over crisis, leadership over inaction and dialogue over silence. it's time to solve our problems. >> you know, the president is fond of saying that no one gets everything they want in a negotiation and, frankly, i agree with that. nobody gets everything they want. but over the course of the last 10 days, we've been trying to have conversations with our democrat colleagues. they don't want to talk. the president doesn't want to talk. we tried to offer bills to reopen part of the government only to have them rejected by our counterparts over the united states senate. so we want to offer the president an ability to move,

temporary increase in the debt ceiling, to go to negotiations on the budget, his willingness to sit down with us a way forward to reopen the government and to start to deal with america's pressing problems. listen, it's time for leadership. it's time for these negotiations and this conversation to begin. and i would hope that the president will look at this as an opportunity and a good faith effort on our part to move halfway, halfway to what he has demanded in order to have these conversations begin. >> the american people expect you to work out your differences. i'm pleased that we've had an invitation from the white house to actually begin to do that. we have seen now for ten days a government shutdown. it's not what we asked for.

and there is very little time left we cannot waste any more time. what we have discussed as a conference is a temporary extension of the debt ceiling. in exchange for a real commitment by this president and the senate majority leader to sit down and talk about the pressing problems that are facing all the american people. that includes a broad array of issues. we look forward to that happening and as you looked throughout history, presidents who have governed in a divided government have all sat down and talked with the other side. it's about time this is happenin happening. >> i'm hopeful for today. this is something that republicans have been waiting quite some time for. we never wanted to shut down. that's why our very last bill has said let's go to conference. we're thankful the president is

willing to talk today. we're coming there with an idea of getting there, to deal with these economic drivers that harm the economy. the drivers that continue to add debt. so when we make an offer today for a temporary extension, we're looking for a structure that puts us on a path to get a budget, to take care of the debt and move this economy in a stronger position and have all americans win. a little common sense for the rest of the country. >> and i'll take a couple of questions. >> there you go. >> what do you need in order to reopen the full government? >> that's a conversation we're going to have with the president today. i don't want to put anything on the table. i don't want to take anything off the table. that's why we want to have this conversation. >> prevent us from being in the exact same --

>> clearly, you could end up back in the same place and we don't want to be there. i think the president wants to deal with america's pressing problems justify as much as we do. but in order to deal with these pressing problems, leads to a negotiation that begins to solve these problems for the future and frankly our kids and grand kids. >> will you reopen the government if the president doesn't agree to -- >> from candy and nuts, every y everyday -- >> there you have it. this is sort of classic speaker boehner, couple of questions, some very turst and very clear reactions and then that's it. typically when the president or harry reid gives their news conference, little bit lengthier. president's news conferences are lengthier or have seemed to be in the past two weeks anyway.

the message, no matter what, is abundantly clear. let me give you a little bit of the headline here. not what we weren't expecting. speaker boehner did say we've been trying to have that conversation. they don't want to talk. president doesn't want to talk. here is the weird part. president did extend the overture of an invitation to all 233 members of the house republicans to come to the white house to talk. here is how it was received. no. not all of us are going to come. the speaker, instead, is going to bring 20 of those republicans. you just heard the speaker alluding to that as well. when he meets with his membership, albeit a truncated version of the membership, at the white house today it's expectationed to be not about this debt ceiling deal but the opening of the government. we are still in a crisis of spending, still dealing with that. dana bash is standing by. she's been watching all of this, breaking it before the

leadership has a chance to break it for us. i think that's exactly what we were expecting to hear. although, did you expect that the speaker, deigna would allude to the meeting today with the white house as dealing with this debt ceiling deal, not so much the continuing resolution? >> yeah, but i don't think that is so surprising, because that certainly is -- the debt ceiling and, more specifically, the whole negotiation that they're hoping to have in exchange for temporarily raising the debt ceiling is exactly what they have been demanding to talk to the president about. when the speaker says let's talk and let's negotiate, that's what he says he wants to do, to have big negotiations about the issues that are giving the nation problem with his regars s to the deficit and debt. taxes are a different set of bags because the two sides, obviously, are very split on that. for that reason it wasn't that

surprising. i don't know if you could hear my question that i yelled out from the sea of reporters. what i was trying to get at is whether or not when they do sit down and discuss reopening the government if the republicans are going to acquiesce and give in on what they were demanding from the beginning, which led to this government shutdown in the first place, which is neither a repeal, delay or dismantling of obama care in order to reopen the government. as you sort of heard, he gave one of his favorite lines, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts. he didn't want to go there. >> if it's not about obama care anymore, what is it about? is it about any kind of concession? does that mean face saving? i want to reiterate the headline of the day. confirming with our dana bash, there is this overture and offer of a deal, to at least avert the

bursting through of the debt ceiling. we came to effectively, for the most part, the end of the borrowing possibilities, the end of the bill payment possibilities, six weeks temporary remove from entering that debt ceiling. it will be expanded and we will be able to pay the bills and we won't lose aaa credit -- we don't have aa credit rating anymore. we lost that a long time ago. six week period for dialogue. what that dialogue is supposed to be, though, no one was clear. in exchange for real commitment to sit down on the pressing issues and then i waited for what that commitment would look like. no details. nothing at all. so, that's really the crux here. what is that commitment going to look like in those six weeks? a nebulus, let's all do this in

good faith? that doesn't seem to work, or is it something in writing? great analysis. even further digging on what the democrats are saying about this and whether they'll be on board with it. the president says he's on board. how about the rest of them? back right after this. pools... waffle bars... fancy robes... seems every hotel has something to love... so join the loyalty program that lets you earn free nights in any of them. plus, for a limited time, members can win a free night every day. only at hotels.com

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you may think seven days is a long time, but it's not when you're coming up against a debt ceiling and can't pay your bills as a country. that's why today's big news is a breakthrough. albeit an itty-bitty break through. but the republican leaders have come out and agreed to offer up an extension, at least six weeks to raise the debt ceiling. during that six-week time, talk. get in deep and thick on the issues that are facing the republicans and the democrats, and that is how to tax, how to spend and how maybe not to do so much of each. i want to bring in wolf blitzer, my colleague, who is live in

washington, d.c. right now, for a bit of analysis on what we've just seen. correct me if i'm wrong, i thought we might get more detail about what that six weeks might entail. can kicking without concrete reasons of what we could see effectively happen in that six weeks. >> the devil is in the details right now. it looks encouraging. certainly the markets are reacting favorably to a possible six-week extension of the debt ceiling, get that off the table, at least for the time being. meantime, continue some serious discussions, negotiations, whatever you want to call it, in terms of reopening the federal government, making sure that the partial government shutdown end. markets are up 227 points right now, ashleigh. it was up a little bit -- very little yesterday, maybe 25 points. it was down triple digits in the days preceding, as it looked gloomy. what the markets want to see and what everybody wants to see is make sure that that debt ceiling

is raised even temporarily to reensure investors around the world, americans at home that they're not going to have to worry about their t-bills, 401(k)s, social security. social security recipients get social security, that they will get their checks on time. if you listen today to jack lew, the treasury secretary, he testified. he outlined a very dire scenario, doom and gloom scenario if the debt ceiling were not increased. if they can kick that can down the road for six weeks, that's encouraging. meantime, let's hope that they can resolve all the other issues they have. and then deal long term what the president himself has said he would like to deal with that so-called grand bargain, entitlement reform, tax reform, everything that the republicans would like to see and a lot of democrats would like to see as well. this is an encouraging moment right now. we'll see what happens when the republican leadership goes over to the white house, 1:30 pm eastern later today.

democratic senators will go over about 4:30. all the house democrats were at the white house. these are incremental steps but encouraging ones. >> if you had asked me whether a six-week reprieve and a debt ceiling crisis all the while shall while the government is shut down -- if you had said to me a few years ago that this would be something that would sky rocket our markets, i would have said, wolf, you need to find another job. hold your thoughts for a moment, if you will. i want to bring in christine romans. am i crazy to think why is wall street happy about this? >> this is what it's come to. it's the first inkling that they've had that they're not stupid enough to raise the debt ceiling. >> for now. >> for now. >> that means uncertainty. >> wall street is saying at least the next six weeks, assuming this doesn't collapse, by the way. we are in the early moments of this. assuming this does not collapse this is what wall street wants to see. they do not want to see the

shenanigans of the last few days, these stresses starting to come together. look at stocks right now, building on their gains, back above 15,000. another interesting thing happened today, ashleigh. we had a weekly jobless claims report. an economic report still wasn't coming out. showed a jump in unemployment claims. some of those were tied to the shutdown. you can make a direct line between the shutdown and not raising the debt ceiling to jobs. this is a congress that used to be -- a city, washington, that used to be obsessed with who was doing more to create jobs. no one there is creating jobs. they're extending people home and talking about a forced recession by balancing the budget, by not raising the debt ceiling. that effectively balanced the budget like that overnight. doing that would almost certainly drive the u.s. economy into a recession. none of these people, none of these people win if that happens. >> what's so frustrating, you can't say there's a silver lining. we're saving all that money with

the shutdown. because we're not. we're paying people not to work at a time when we have massive debt. jeffrey toobin after the break i want to ask you about six weeks. you're a former federal government man, former prosecutor. really, can we do anything in six weeks? think about that. you've got three minutes and we're back right after this. talk about being put on the spot. ♪ ♪ store and essentially they just get sold something. we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. before you invest in a mattress, discover the bed clinically proven to

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so, once again, the headlines that are being broken today is that there may be some movement, some. when i say some, you know, maybe some. at least the house leadership, the republicans have come out with an offer of a six-week break. and the problem we're facing with the debt ceiling. raise the debt ceiling for six weeks on the condition that the democrats go to conference with the republicans in that period

to deal with other expenditures and issues. at the same time, i'm sorry to report, the government is not going to reopen. we still don't have an issue with the cr, the spending bill. six weeks seems ridiculous, another can kicking. depending on your perspective, it can be very long or very short. >> well, that's right. to call this a breakthrough, i think, to quote the soft bigotry of negotiations. congress only work on deadlines. it is good news that we will not have this financial crisis, this financial meltdown for six weeks. since it only works on deadlines, it sure suggests to me that the government may stay shut down for the entire six weeks. think about how that will affect the government employees, people who need government services, whether it's head start, whether you want to visit a national park, whether you want to visit

a funeral, have a military funeral. these are real-life problems that people have. we have a federal government because we need a federal government t looks like it will stay shut for quite a while longer. >> during the break, you were apt to point out that as a federal government employee you're not sure that all these furloughed employees will get their backpay. >> most are not getting paid now. these people have bills. for the most part, they're middle-class people. >> christine romans are saying i need unemployment benefits. >> they'll start filing for unemployment benefits, no question. >> that's great news at a time when we're trying to get the rails back on this economy. wolf bliter, i'm still hearing the kind of language that is not constructive. at least publicly. i don't know if that's an insurance policy for these politicians, to continue their rough talk about who is to blame for all of this.

srnl doesn't make us feel any better. we just mentioned this. jeff just mentioned this. christine just mentioned this. the government is still shut down. is there any thought that this could lead to a break in that? >> i think a lot of us have always said that both of these issues, the government shutdown and raising the debt ceiling at some point would have to become one bigger issue that democrats and republicans and the president could try to resolve in one fell swoop. it's going to take some time. look, the republicans have this offer to deal with all these piece meal pieces of legislation as far as veterans or as far as making sure that the food and drug administration or nih or military funerals or veterans benefits, all of that stuff, they pass these kinds of separate bills. harry reid and the democrats say they want one clean cr to get everything going. if you just start passing piece

meal pieces of legislation, that simply will delay what everyone wants. a complete end of the government shutdown. they'll go back and forth on that. republicans did come out last week and say they want this joint house you heard the speaker and majoritity leader put forward, as part of the six-week extension of the raiding the debt ceiling they'll start the joint house senate conference committee. originally democrats were reluctant. if they do that and everybody starts talking the way everybody thinks eventually they'll have to do, that would be encouraging as far as the government shutdown is concerned as well. look, there's an enormous amount of work to be done, enormous differences between the democrats and the republicans, between the president and the speaker, but at least they're talking. republican leaders are going back to the white house today. i think that's good. >> let me ask you, if this oents overture from the republicans to the democrats to get this debt

ceiling pushed ahead six weeks, does that likely mean that the democrats and the president in particular, are going to have to break in the entrance against on the cleanliness of the cr, meaning if you want the government up and running, if you want a spending bill, you better be prepared to consider things when it comes to obama care? >> the president has made it clear that, once the government is fully operational, that the government shutdown ends, and once the spending -- the debt ceiling has been extended, he says all of those issues, including health care, he keeps saying it, are up on the table, if you want to try to improve obama care, he's willing to try to improve obama care, if you want to talk about entitlement reform or tax reform or social issues that are so -- the spending issues so important in terms of the long-term national debt, he's willing to talk about that. he did have a deal with the speaker about a year or so ago, the so-called grand bargain, but

when the speaker went back to the caucus they didn't like it a lot didn't like it and he backed out of the deal. he acknowledged that on "this week with george stephanopoulos" this past weekend, he acknowledged he did have a deal with the president, the president was on board, he was on board but he changed his mind under pressure from some of the more hard-liners within the republican caucus and the house of representatives. so, there is a possibility, you can talk about all of these things down the road. the republicans are fearful, if they reopen the government fully, if they extend the debt limit they lose leverage in talking about the issues paul ryan wrote about the "wall street journal," the chairman of the house budget committee, talking about entitlement reform and tax reform, long-term issues, social security, medicare, medicaid, and they're afraid if they accept what the president is demanding as far as the government shutdown and the debt ceiling are concerned, they'll lose a lot of the leverage, which presumably they will. >> curious if they're gaining it back with the overture.

when there's an olive branch from either side of the members of the government it has a funny way of showing it self-. earlier we heard how the speaker referred to conversations about to happen between his members and the president. he said the president doesn't want to talk, they don't want to talk. well let's hear what they have to say about that. thank you. hold on for a moment. i'm going to take a quick break. we'll go to the white house and get reaction to what the speaker just said and to what might be lying on the horizon as well. [ male announcer ] there will be more powerful storms. that's why there's new duracell quantum. only duracell quantum has a hi-density core. and that means more fuel, more power, more performance than the next leading brand. new duracell quantum. trusted everywhere.

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as we continue to wait for some reaction from the white house on what happens just wrap up on capitol hill, that meeting where the leadership of the gop and the house, including the speaker, john boehner, effectively laying out the plan, the offer of the six-week break to raise the debt limit, talk, not open the government, not fund the government, doesn't get a continuing resolution out of this but at least talk and get to the next deadline without blowing through our debt ceiling and defaulting on our debts. while that is sort of germinating throughout those in the white house, we're waiting for their reaction. wouldn't it be really nice to be able to hear someone stand up in congress and speak from the heart, somebody guided by faith and conscience? wow! guided by principle and not the partisan talking points and the line of the day or the hashtag? there is someone exactly like that. you're about to hear from him.

but with the caveat he's not a member. have a listen. >> deliver us from the hypocrisy of attempting to sound reasonable while being unreasonable. forgive them for the blunders they have committed, infusing them with the courage to admit and correct mistakes. today, give our lawmakers the vision and the willingness, remove from them that stubborn pride which imagines itself to be above and beyond criticism. lord, deliver us from governmin by crisis. it's time for our lawmakers to

say enough is enough. we pray in your merciful name, amen. amen. amen. amen. >> amen. i'm going to add one to that. here he is live, the chaplain of the united states senate, retired navy admiral barry black. chaplain, thank you, thank you, thank you for saying these things. i wish they had more of an effect. i want to ask you, if you are able to counsel regularly individual members about the kind of language they use, the kind of blame they throw around and the personal responsibility they do not take, especially when they use words like terrorist and hostage and gun to their heads, how do you operate in the halls of congress with these people? >> well, i teach a bible study

for senators on a weekly basis. i also interact regularly with senators at a weekly prayer breakfast. if i were talking to them about the power of words i would tell them, first, words have consequences, proverbs 18:21 says power of life and death is in the tongue. i would also tell them that how you say something is as important in what you say, proverb 15:1 says, a soft answer turns away anger. i would encourage them to be responsible stewards of their verbiage. >> chaplain black, are you hopeful that -- you saw we had an overture today, are you hopeful we'll get anywhere, out of this crisis without further damage to the people of congress, to the people of the united states, and to the great

name of the united states? >> well, laudable goals are rarely achieved without hard effort and perseverance. i am the perennial optimist. i was in college in alabama in the '60s when a diminutive preacher came to my campus and said, we shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice. i think that optimism was contagious. if someone had told me in the '60s, when i was a student in alabama, at the walls of segregation would come down and there would be an african-american chaplain of the united states senate, i would have responded, you did indeed inhale. but that was what happened because of optimism, because of persevering, there is an